Union of October 17

The Octobrist Party, formally the Union of October 17, was a social conservative party in Russian politics which existed from 1905 to 1917. The party was named for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia's "October Manifesto" of 17 October 1905, which led to the establishment of the State Duma and a constitutional monarchy. The Octobrist Party followed liberal conservatism and supported a constitutional monarchy, and the party became one of the ruling political parties of the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky during the 1917 Russian Revolution. However, the Bolshevik October Revolution of October 1917 gave the term "Octobrist" a fully different meaning, and the Octobrist Party joined forces with the White Army against the Bolshevik communists. By 1939, 17% of the population of the Soviet Union supported the party's old ideals.